“Hmm. Interesting.”
“What?” asked Sailor Eris as she performed a few calisthenics.
“It appears the Senshi are splitting up. Some travel towards Nerima while others stay home.”
“Really?” Eris moved to other end of the scrying pool. “Well would you look at that…”
Dominus gave the impression of a smirk. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“I think so, but how would we convince Kekko Kamen to appear at the Super Bowl?”
The dark cloud paused for a moment. “Remind me about that when we have the time. In any case, I meant we should strike on multiple fronts. You attack in Nerima, I in Juuban.”
Eris nodded. “Right, a sort of home field advantage. My future birthplace and your various points of demise. Still, I’ll need to distract Saotome somehow.”
“I don’t understand why that boy has so much power over you,” groused Dominus.
“Remember the origin story of Neo Nerima? He wioll haven be—”
“What?”
“Future semiconditionally modified subinverted plagal past subjunctive intentional tense. Duh.”
The shapeless demon just looked at the Chaos Senshi blankly for a moment. “You were saying?”
“Right. Ranma wioll haven be the conduit through which Serenity willan focusan on-when the Ginzuishou to boost the Neriman chaos enchantment to global proportions. She mayan on-do this because Ranma pan-be a living focus for chaos magic, and, as per the Law of Opposites, order magic as well. That means that, even now, any magic based on the Order-Chaos duality is strongly attracted to him, even if it isn’t intentionally targeting him.”
Dominus’s glowing red eye flickered a few times, his method of blinking. “I…see.”
“Really?”
“No, actually. Not in the least.”
“Good. Neither do I.”
“Wha— But then…”
Eris shrugged. “Just because I read Dr. Streetmentioner’s Time Traveler’s Handbook of 1001 Tense Formations and Philosopher-Queen Mizuno’s Metamagical Theory for Fun and Profit doesn’t mean I really understand anything. I just know the mechanics and how to properly phrase them when I’m in a time simultaneously before and after my own birth.”
“‘Philosopher-Queen Mizuno’?”
“Lady High Muckamuck and Undisputed Regent of the Permafrost, Long May Her Experiments Bear Fruit,” recited Eris, in a rote tone that suggested she memorized the phrase long ago. “I told you each Senshi willan rulen be part of the world. Now, are we going to discuss the various titles of the Senshi, or are we going to kick the crap out of them?”
“The latter. You’re giving me a headache.”
Eris looked bemused. “You don’t have a head.”
“That should tell you how confused I am right now. In any case, here’s my plan…”
“So, it’s Makoto, Minako, and Ami who are going to Nerima,” confirmed Usagi.
The three in question nodded. Each had an ulterior motive for going. Ami wanted more data on the neighborhood’s innate chaos, Makoto felt an odd camaraderie with Sakaki, and Minako didn’t trust Ranma alone with Makoto. Needless to say, the Senshi of Love was unaware of why she had a toothache.
“Meanwhile, the rest of us remain here in case of youma attack or similar,” Michiru summarized.
“Not much chance of that,” Haruka said dismissively. She stretched and continued. “Other than that cliff vision thing Michi-chan had, we seem to be in the clear. The cloud thing seems more likely to go after the Zodiacs.”
“There remains the issue of that black-garbed Senshi,” noted Setsuna. “We don’t know anything about her, other than her skill in combat and enmity towards us.”
Usagi frowned. “She’s a Senshi. Why can’t we all be friends?”
Haruka gave a look that was half sympathy, half mockery. “Not all of us share your friendly attitude, Princess.”
The future queen frowned. “Well you should. The world will be so much better once everyone can just be nice to one another.” Several nods answered this.
“Um…” The others turned to Naru, who had become something of a “mascot” for the Senshi. “Y’ sound so sure that’ll happen, Usagi-chan. How c’n y’ be so certain? I mean, people 'r' jus' jerks sometimes. That’s human nature.”
“Crystal Tokyo,” said Rei.
“That anythin’ like those crystal unicorns they got on th’ shoppin’ channels?” asked Osaka.
Usagi laughed a bit at the idea, but shook her head. “No, it’s the future. After our last battle, the world will be frozen for a thousand years. Then I’ll thaw out Tokyo and purify everyone. Then Mamo-chan and I will rule together,”
“Speaking of whom,” noted Minako, “where is Mamoru-san?”
“Interning at my mother’s hospital,” said Ami. “He has a fairly strict schedule at the moment.”
“Who is Mamoru-san?” asked Sakaki.
“My fiancé,” Usagi said serenely.
“An’ Tuxedo Kamen, right?”
“How’d you know, Naru-chan?”
“Makes sense. Yer Sailor Moon. Everyone knows Sailor Moon an’ Tuxedo Kamen are a couple. You an’ Mamoru-san are a couple.”
Ami finished the thought. “Therefore, Mamoru-san is Tuxedo Kamen. Very logical, Naru.”
The redhead shrugged. “Once I knew Usagi-chan was Sailor Moon, everythin’ started ta fall inta place.”
“Um, question?”
The others looked Osaka, expression confused and hand raised, and sweatdropped. “This isn’t a class, Kasuga-san,” said Ami. “You don’t have to raise your hand or anything.”
“Right, sorry. It’s just that Usagi-san said she thaws out Tokyo, but what about th’ rest o’ th’ world? Tokyo ain’t the center o’ the universe.”
“Sometimes I wonder…” muttered Rei. Why else would every paranormal nasty and its grandma attack the city?
Usagi considered the question. Anxiety clouded her features. “Setsuna-san?”
The Senshi of Time also looked worried. “I honestly cannot say for certain. The future is always at least partially uncertain. While the majority of all possible timelines have Crystal Tokyo in one form or another, the exact details of each vary wildly. In some, the Deep Freeze is broken worldwide and Neo Queen Serenity ushers in a new golden age for all of mankind. In others, only a few thousand survive and, outside of a few square kilometers, Earth is a barren wasteland.”
The others looked uneasy. “Is it really the right thing to do, then?” asked Sakaki, voicing the thoughts of many in the room.
“It doesn’t matter,” Setsuna said sadly. “It has to be done to avoid a temporal paradox.” Seeing the confusion of the newcomers, she elaborated. “Usagi’s future daughter has traveled to the past from Crystal Tokyo. We must ensure there is a Crystal Tokyo from which she can travel.”
“Actually…” All heads turned to Ami, who shrank a bit before recovering. “I’ve been thinking about that, and I don’t believe it to be necessarily true.”
“What?” Setsuna was, understandably, shocked.
“You yourself said the future is highly variable, Setsuna-san,” Ami continued. “Just because a given timeline never comes to pass for us doesn’t mean it never comes to be. An alternate version of our selves, our universe, could travel down each path we do not. Chibi-Usa could have come from a future Crystal Tokyo that we ourselves will not build.”
“I…” The Time Guardian’s expression of befuddlement and disbelief was one that had almost never crossed her face over her entire lifespan. “I honestly had never thought of that. How did you?”
“If it wasn’t the case, we have an Inventor’s Paradox,” noted Ami. “Chibi-Usa goes back in time, so we create Crystal Tokyo so Chibi-Usa can go back in time. It’s a loop without beginning or end, and since you don’t seem to have a constant headache, I surmised that that wasn’t the case. The only other logical explanation is the multiple timelines theory.”
“Huh… Why didn’t I think of that?” Setsuna half-sat, half-collapsed on the floor. “I…I need to consider this.”
Ami looked rather uncomfortable. “I didn’t mean to shock you, Setsuna-san.”
“No, it’s fine. I was probably too close to the problem to see such a solution.” The Pluto Senshi considered this for a moment. “Would it be alright if Ami didn’t go? I think we should discuss a few things.”
Minako frowned. “We’ll need a replacement. I don’t like the idea of going into unknown territory with only two active Senshi.”
“I’ll go!” Usagi said cheerfully.
Every one of her Senshi looked at her and chorused “No way.” Minako continued. “You going into unknown territory is a completely unacceptable risk.”
“We’ve all gone into enemy strongholds together,” protested the princess, “and those were way more dangerous.”
“That was when we were performing final strikes,” replied the captain. “Besides, we were all with you and were there to shield you from anything that would have killed you before you could face the head cheese.” Given the severity of the moment, the mangled idiom was ignored.
“Remember when Dominus was in America? If I had been there, I could have purified all those people and no one would have been in danger!”
“And what if he decides to show up in Juuban and you’re stuck in Nerima?”
The battle of wills was interrupted when Haruka cleared her throat. “While watching this argument devolve into a catfight sounds appealing, I’ll volunteer to go in our fearless leader’s stead.”
“I’ll go too,” said Michiru. “If we are to all work together, it’s best if both of us get experience in the matter.“ Giving her lover a sidelong glance, she added, “And I want to make sure we don’t repeat the Monaco Incident.”
Haruka blushed. “How was I supposed to know she was engaged?”
The others glanced at one another and silently agreed to file this one under “Don’t Ask.”
“We’ve spent enough time talking about it,” proclaimed Makoto. “Let’s get going already!” This was met with several nods, and the Nerima-bound Senshi soon left the temple.
Naru turned to Usagi. “So what can I do?”
The princess gave an uncertain look, but it was Setsuna who answered the question. “We’ll get to you soon enough, Osaka-san. For now, just get caught up on the parts of Usagi’s life you’ve missed out on.”
Ryoga looked around the parlor. The woman who answered the door seemed nice enough, though she was a bit surprised at first. He couldn’t blame her, really. Who would expect a guest this late at night?
Still, there was something odd about the place that he just couldn’t quite put his finger on. All the lights had been off when he’d come in, but that wasn’t so strange. It was late. Still, when the woman, who’d introduced herself as Callera Marker, had opened the door, she was wearing neither pajamas nor a robe, but loungewear. Still, she could’ve just gotten home from a party or something.
The lost boy shrugged. It was probably nothing.
In another room of the same house, the Markers were having an improptu family meeting. Ren had been contacted (though the gender of the subject had been carefully omitted) and was en route from whichever love hotel he’d been using. Karin had been awakened as was preparing something for the boy to eat. Callera had proposed a late meal, the boy had not declined, and considering the amount of blood he was going to lose, he’d need a little nutrition. But there were still a few things that still puzzled the family.
“You’re positive he’s human?” asked Henry, the father.
“He must be,” answered his wife, “otherwise I wouldn’t have sensed the incredible amount of dishonesty in him.” She gave a disturbing smile. “Oh, what havoc his lies must wreak!”
“But those fangs…”
“Bah! So he’s got long canines for a human. It happens sometimes.”
“I suppose…”
Anju, the youngest daughter, said in her usual monotone, “There remains the question of how a human bypassed the barrier.”
“Hmm…” Callera had no simple answer for this. According to the bats, the human had simply appeared behind the misdirection field that kept humans away from the vampires’ home. Such a hole in security could not be overlooked, regardless of any duplicitous morsels that might stumble through it. “Anju, examine the barrier completely after we are finished with this boy. It’s possible that allowing a few of Karin’s little human friends through has weakened it.”
“Understood, Mother.”
“Hibiki-san! Your meal is ready!” The young unvampire’s voice came ringing from the kitchen.
Callera gave a grin that another vampire in another universe would be proud to call his own. “And once he is finished, ours will begin.”
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(Posted Sat, 13 Sep 2008 21:46)
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